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Peterson: Will the real Joe Biden please stand up

Seeking the 1988 Democratic nomination eventually won by Michael Dukakis, Biden was stumping in California.

At a Beverly Hills fundraiser, the Democratic senator touted a tax cut proposal — I forget the details — saying it would create both jobs and new revenue.

That sounded a little like the supply-side theories that were part of Ronald Reagan’s brand. I asked Biden about that at an impromptu news conference.

“Are you a Republican?” he responded without answering my question.

I wanted to counter: “Are you?” Instead, I glanced down at my notebook until someone asked about something else.

I thought of that when Biden, now vice president, recently began acting like he might run again in 2016.

He’s been making the rounds in early primary states, helping fellow Democrats raise money, building up chits and — most of all — being seen.

That raises anew the question — which he’d seem to duck in Beverly Hills — of who Biden is.

If he runs, no one will wonder whether he’s a Republican. But there’s a larger point: It will be hard for him to have much identity at all over the next three years apart from Barack Obama’s.

Almost anything Biden says or does will reflect on the president, at least to some extent. And — more important to Biden — the reverse is true.

History has shown that could bode well or ill for him, even though, with Obama now struggling politically, it might not seem obvious now.

George H. W. Bush, whom Biden would have opposed had he won the 1988 nomination, is a relevant example.

Like Obama — Reagan, whom Bush served as vice president — suffered setbacks. So being closely associated with Reagan sometimes was seen as a liability.

But by 1988, the Gipper had bounced back; a link to him was no longer an albatross. Anyway, Bush won.

Consider also Al Gore, Bill Clinton’s veep for eight years. Clinton survived the Monica Lewinsky scandal and left office with high marks; a booming economy trumped all other issues.

Although Gore didn’t succeed Clinton, he drew more votes than George W. Bush in 2000 and lost only because of the arcane mechanics of the Electoral College.

In contrast, not even an additional four years removed the stain of Walter Mondale’s having been Jimmy Carter’s vice president.

At least in 1980, Carter’s presidency widely was seen as a flop. Voters opted for Reagan. And Reagan beat Mondale by a huge landslide in 1984.

But what about Richard Nixon?

Despite the popularity of Dwight Eisenhower, served by Nixon for two terms as vice president, Nixon lost to John F. Kennedy in 1960.

But Ike’s relationship with Nixon was decidedly cool. That was underscored when Eisenhower, asked to cite a notable Nixon accomplishment, said he’d rather think about it for a week or so.

Nixon, of course, won in 1968 on his second try, and again in 1972. And what about his vice presidents? Let’s not go there.

Because any 2016 prospects Biden might have remain tied to Obama, that favors former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who left his administration in January. She’s free to say she would’ve acted differently — at least after her departure.

Should Biden run, any reservation he voiced about Obama would be seen not just as disloyal, but as an implicit form of self-repudiation.

Only if he wins the nomination can he safely suggest minor course corrections.

Indeed, the first George Bush said during his acceptance speech that we could stand “a kinder, gentler” approach on on some issues.

That was a tacit — even if passing — concession that Reaganomics had left some people behind.

In that in other ways, Bush walked a fine line between honoring the man he’d served and being his own man.

Biden has said he owns portraits of two vice presidents — John Adams and Thomas Jefferson — who ultimately became president.

But they did so more than two centuries ago; much has changed in American politics.

Biden could do worse if he found room for a likeness of the elder Bush, even if in a closet.

Not that H. W. was able to keep the White House in 1992, let alone pass it on to his vice president.